How Did Ben Simmons and the 76ers Get Here?

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 19 October 2021

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For the people of Philadelphia, and of the basketball world, the relationship between Ben Simmons and the 76ers was broken the moment he passed up a dunk in Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs against the Hawks. After the game, head coach Doc Rivers and star Joel Embiid appeared to point the finger at Simmons in their press conference, and it seemed all but certain that Simmons’ days in Philly were numbered. Since that game, Simmons has made it known that he wants to be traded, at first refusing to report for training camp. But the 76ers have been unable to find a willing trade partner. Now, as the NBA season tips off today, Simmons is still a 76er…albeit not a happy one. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne digs deep into the NBA's messiest, longest divorce, and why the secret to understanding it begins well before that infamous Game 7. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	ESPN Daily is presented by supercuts, the smarter, easier way to get a haircut.
0:07.0	It's not just any haircut, it's super cuts.
0:10.0	Ramona Shelburne, there are a zillion places that we could start this story, but I want you to start it on last Monday night.
0:22.1	What happened?
0:24.3	There was a little theater involved in this, Pablo, because...
0:27.5	A little, a little theater, Ramona?
0:29.7	A little theater.
0:31.8	There's been a lot of theater all summer,
0:33.9	but the theater on Monday night was a surprise visit.
0:37.9	Ramona Shelburne covers basketball for ESPN.
0:41.5	You know, after swearing all summer that he would never plan another game for the Sixers,
0:46.9	that he would never put the jersey on, that he was not going to report.
0:50.3	Ben Simmons basically doorstep them.
0:54.1	He showed up in Philly, unannounced, two minutes before the Sixers were about to tip off against the Brooklyn Nets in a preseason game and said, I'm here.
1:03.8	The Sixers may have gotten a surprise that neither the team or its fan base expected Ben Simmons reported to Wells Fargo Center last night to start
1:12.5	the process of rejoining the franchise.
1:15.8	He didn't say much else beyond that.
1:18.1	There was not like a, hey, sorry about all the unpleasantness over the summer.
1:22.8	There was none of that.
1:23.6	He was just there to report and take a COVID test.
1:28.2	Ben Simmons camp, Rich Paul, his agents, everybody else around him,
1:31.9	they've been in touch with the Sixers.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ESPN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ESPN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.